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GENERAL MANAGER/EASTERN RAILWAY BRIEFS MEDIA ON PRESS MEET ABOUT STATION REDEVELOPMENT
Kolkata, February 24, 2024 :
Shri Milind K Deouskar, General Manager/ Eastern Railway in a Press Meet today (24.02.2024) at Eastern Railway Headquarters, Fairlie Place, Kolkata briefed media people about the ongoing development work of Eastern Railway in particular and about the redevelopment of stations and construction of Road Overbridges (ROBs)/ underpasses over Indian Railways in general for ease of movement as well as providing more facilities and amenities to the passengers. The General Manager/of Eastern Railway answered in detail all the queries of the media representatives present at the Press meeting.
A brief about ongoing development work over Indian Railways in general and Eastern Railway in particular is given below :
With the vision towards ‘Viksit Rail, Viksit Bharat 2047’, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of 508 stations under the ‘Amrit Bharat Station Scheme’ in 27 states on 6th August, 2023. Marching ahead further in this direction, the Hon’ble Prime Minister is going to lay the foundation stone for 28 stations over Eastern Railway under this scheme at a cost of ₹ 704 crore on 26th February, 2024. In Bandel station major redevelopment work is proposed to transform it into a world-class station with all modern facilities & amenities at an estimated cost of ₹307 crore.
Eastern Railway has put a big thrust in infrastructure development over its jurisdiction. Spanning from new lines to the construction of Road Under Bridges (RUBs), Road Over Bridges (ROBs), and redevelopment of stations under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, a mammoth work is going on over the Eastern Railway. Focusing on infrastructure, Eastern Railway has completed the Rampurhat – Murarai 3rd Line (29.48 KM) successfully and has already commissioned on 21.12.2023. In this financial year, a 2-lane section (Kumardubi – Mugma) and 13 ROBs have been opened.
Eastern Railway is committed to providing modern amenities and world-class facilities to train passengers, aligning with global standards. In line with this vision, Eastern Railway has undertaken the redevelopment of several stations across its Sealdah, Howrah, Asansol, and Malda divisions. Ministry of Railways has launched the ‘Amrit Bharat Station scheme’ for the development of Stations on Indian Railways. This scheme envisages the development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach. It involves the preparation of Master Plans and their implementation in phases to improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift/escalators as necessary, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes like ‘One Station One Product’, better passenger information systems, executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping, etc. keeping in view the necessity at each such station. Notably, under the ‘Amrit Bharat Station Scheme,’ selected stations in the selected divisions will receive upgraded passenger facilities, including wide foot-over bridges (FOBs), frontage improvements, spacious waiting areas, surveillance through CCTV cameras, food kiosks, divyangjan-friendly toilets, ramps, signages and escalators.
Stations in the Sealdah division, including Bangaon Jn., Barasat, Dum Dum Jn, Gede, Kalyani, Madhyamgram, Naihati Jn., Sonarpur Jn. with a total project cost of Rs. 121.47 Cr. is allocated for which foundation stone will be laid on 26.02.2024. Similarly, stations in the Howrah Divisions viz., Bally, Chandannagar, Dankuni, Khagraghat Road, Sainthia Jn., with total project cost Rs. 78.14 Cr. Asansol Division viz. Basukinath, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Panagarh, Shankarpur, Vidyasagar with project cost Rs. 93.71 Cr. and Malda Division viz. Banka, Dhulian Ganga, Godda, Jangipur Road, Munger, Sabour, Shivanarayanpur with project cost Rs. 104.0 Cr. is allocated.
Bandel is an important station of the Eastern Railway. It is a junction station in the Howrah Division connecting Howrah at one end and branch lines opening towards Barddhaman, Katwa & Naihati stations. This station has commercial importance and is going to be redeveloped into a world-class station at an investment of ₹307 crore.
The future redevelopment plan at Bandel includes development to international standards, an iconic station building with facilities to cater for another 50 years, a spacious concourse, a rooftop plaza connecting the terminal building, platforms having all essential facilities, construction of 6-meter wide arrival foot over bridge at both Barddhaman end and Howrah end, construction of 36-meter wide departure air concourse/roof plaza with departure foot over bridge connecting rear side building with parking facilities, modern Pay & Use toilets etc.
Eastern Railway is committed to ensuring the safety of its passengers and road users by substituting manned level crossing gates with Underpasses. Railways have put in thrust on construction of more and more Underpasses at level crossings fully funded by the Railways and without any land acquisition bottlenecks.
Eastern Railway has recently completed construction of 11 Underpasses and is going to construct 22 Underpasses at a total cost of Rs. 123.52 crores. Among these Underpasses of Eastern Railway, 10 are in West Bengal of which, the Hon’ble Prime Minister is going to lay Foundation Stone for 4 Underpasses and 6 nos. will be dedicated to the Nation. The total cost of these 10 Underpasses of Eastern Railway in West Bengal is Rs. 41.44 crores. All these 10 Underpasses of the Eastern Railway in West Bengal, 4 are in the Bandel – Katwa section, 4 are in New Farakka – Azimganj, and 2 are in the Krishnanagar – Lalgola section.
At present, there are 1017 level crossing gates in Eastern Railway of which 844 level crossings are in West Bengal. If the detention for road traffic jams and other causes may be average to 5 minutes, the cumulative effect of which will be considerably increase in journey time for both Railways & road traffic. By eliminating the level crossing gates with road overbridges and underpasses, Eastern Railway is committed to bringing ease of movement for rail passengers as well as road users. Hon’ble Prime Minister is going to inaugurate/lay the foundation stone for 1585 Underpasses over Indian Railways of which 31 underpasses are in Eastern Railway jurisdiction. All the underpasses are constructed with a sufficient height of a minimum of 4 meters so that any cart loaded with a paddy bundle can easily pass through thereby facilitating ease of living for the villagers and they can pass with their produce from one side of the Railway track to the other side comfortably.
